


The Beginning

by hermitpanda



Series: Coffee & Pie [5]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 19:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8591491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermitpanda/pseuds/hermitpanda
Summary: “It was me, wasn’t it?”  “Excuse me?”  “The man you were attracted to at the matchmaker’s mixer. I believe that you were attracted to me.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Oooh, things are starting to heat up now. :D Who do you think is going to make the first move???? It's happening here folks. Thank you to everyone that has left me such nice comments. You give me the warm fuzzies. I wish I could hug you all back.  
> ~* HermitPanda *~
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show. Just borrowing them for a while.

Hotch wiped the sweat off his face as he approached his motel room. Reid was leaning against the wall next to the door, reading a book. “Reid? I thought you went out with the others.”

 

“I did at first, but then I decided that I need to talk to you more than I want to go drinking with them. I knew you’d gone for a run so I just waited here.” Reid slipped the book into his messenger bag and straightened up.

 

“Okay. I need to shower. After that, we can go get some coffee or something.” The older man unlocked his door. He led Reid into the room and grabbed some fresh clothes before heading into the bathroom. Less than ten minutes later, he was returning to the room to see the younger man sitting cross-legged on the bed. Reid had moved on from his own book to the novel that Hotch had left sitting on top of the nightstand. He slipped his wallet and phone into a pocket before putting his shoes on. “Ready?”

 

Reid nodded. He put the book back on the nightstand. “May I finish that on the plane?”

 

“Yeah, sure.” Hotch nodded and waved the genius out of the room ahead of him. They crossed the lot to the all-night diner in silence. The Unit Chief led him to a back booth, away from the windows. They would be less likely to be noticed if one of their team members wandered by.

 

Reid waited to speak until they had ordered and the waitress had returned with their coffee and slices of pie. “It was me, wasn’t it?” He kept his eyes on his task of sugaring his coffee.

 

“Excuse me?” Hotch stared at him.

 

“The man you were attracted to at the matchmaker’s mixer. I believe that you were attracted to me.” Reid finally raised his eyes to see the other man’s curious gaze.

 

After a moment, he nodded. “Yes, how did you come to that conclusion?”

 

The young man relaxed slightly at the admission and took a forkful of pie before answering. “When you responded that night, it was with your ‘Don’t question me’ tone so I didn’t ask any more questions, but later when I was trying to figure out who it was, I remembered that you had said that you didn’t get any numbers. I could only come up with two reasons why you would do that. You either already had their number, or you felt that you couldn’t ask.”

 

“So how did you narrow it to yourself?” Hotch sipped his coffee.

 

“You didn’t seem familiar with anyone there so I most likely would have been the only one whose number you already had. For the second one, I’ve seen you hit on women. When you’re interested, you ask them outright for their number or a date. I would assume you follow the same pattern with men as well. But you didn’t ask anyone. You also turned down the men that asked you for your number. So that led me to reason that the only person you felt like you couldn’t ask was me. Probably because of the fact that we work together. Either way, I came to the same conclusion. That it was me.” Reid met his gaze and raised a brow.

 

Hotch smiled. “Right in both cases. Plus, I wasn’t sure how you would react to an overture from me. I’d rather not make a move than to make one and regret it. By holding my tongue, I didn’t make you feel uncomfortable in my presence if you didn’t feel the same attraction.”

 

“I’m not uncomfortable,” the genius said quickly.

 

“So what are you?”

 

“At the moment, undecided. I wanted to know all of the facts before I decided if I should make a move or not.” He pushed his pie around his plate.

 

The older man studied him. “Do you make the first move usually?”

 

Reid shrugged. “Sometimes I do. Contrary to what Morgan believes, I’m not a shy, blushing virgin. I just prefer to keep my sexual experiences private.”

 

Hotch considered for a moment. “I’m not sure that Morgan truly thinks you’re a virgin. Jones has been trying for years to get gossip on you to circulate around the office and whisper in Strauss’ ear. I think Morgan’s protecting you. If you’re a virgin, there’re no sexcapades for Jones to hear about.”

 

“It never occurred to me that he was doing that. I’m not sure whether to ask him about it or not.”

 

“Don’t,” Hotch shook his head. “Sometimes it’s better to leave things unsaid. This is one of those times.”

 

Reid leaned forward. “Does it bother you if another man makes the first move?”

 

“No, if I’m not interested I politely refuse like I did at the mixer. If I am interested, then I give them my number or agree to the date. Why? Going to make a move?” He smiled and leaned forward also.

 

“Possibly. Would it be awkward working together?” The younger man smiled also.

 

“I’m less concerned about it being awkward than I am about whether I can continue to make the best decisions about field assignments and tactical situations with all those emotions in the mix,” Hotch admitted.

 

Surprise flickered across the other man’s face. “Really?

 

“Everyone has insecurities, Reid. Even me.”

 

“I don’t mind you calling me Reid at work, but if we were to try this you’d have to call me Spencer outside of work. Would I call you Aaron or Hotch?”

 

He shrugged. “Whichever you’re comfortable with. Everyone I’ve ever dated or slept with has called me Aaron. Jess calls me Aaron. Dave even calls me Aaron when it’s not work-related. It’s generally just work people that call me Hotch.”

 

Spencer nodded and turned his attention back to his pie. “What about Jack?”

 

“He’s my priority. Always. If he needs me, I cancel dates and plans. I won’t change that.”

 

The younger man refilled their nearly empty cups from the carafe the waitress left on the table. “Oh, I know that. If you didn’t put him first, I wouldn’t even consider dating you. I meant does he know you date men along with women? Would you tell him about us if we got serious? What would you expect out of me in relation to him? To stand back and keep my mouth shut?”

 

“He knows that I’ve been dating and that the matchmaker was introducing me to men but we didn’t really have any discussions about it. He didn’t say anything that makes me think he wouldn’t accept me dating a man.” Aaron pushed his empty plate to the side of the table and leaned back in his seat. “He hasn’t met anyone I’ve dated yet because none of them lasted long enough to meet him. If it looked like we were going to be serious and try for something long term, I would explain it to him. As for what I expect, just for you to be friendly with him like you are now. If we became serious but you didn’t want anything to do with being more of an authority figure to him than you already are, then fine. You wouldn’t have to be. If you wanted to be a parental type figure, I would never deprive my son of a relationship with someone who loved him. That decision would be yours to make when the time came. That’s a bridge to cross another day.”

 

“If we date, we need some rules,” Spencer stated. At Aaron’s nod, he continued. “We have to communicate. There’s no way we’ll be able to balance our work and private lives if we don’t. If something’s wrong, we talk at the very first chance.”

 

“Agreed. We also have to maintain a professional distance at Quantico and in the field. Evenings like this where the case is done and we’re basically killing time until the flight, it’s okay to relax a bit. But otherwise, the personal stays personal.”

 

“Those are the things I was most concerned about. What about you?” Spencer asked.

 

Aaron nodded. “Just one more thing off the top of my head. Jessica is a neutral party. We don’t make her choose between us. Anything you two talk about is between you two. Anything I talk to her about is between me and her. I don’t interfere with your friendship with her, and you don’t interfere with mine. Other than that, I think if something comes up, we can talk about it, make another rule.”

 

The genius grinned. “Good. So those are the rules for if we try this. You ready to leave?”

 

Aaron nodded, knowing Spencer would tell him when he had made a decision whether he wanted to try dating or not. He hoped that the younger man would choose to try it. He had seemed interested at least. He chuckled when his hand was smacked away from the bill.

 

“It’s my turn this time. We agreed on that after the mixer,” Spencer stated and stood up. He paid the bill and followed Aaron outside silently. He walked closer to the other man as they crossed the lot than he normally would. He replayed their conversation and the rules in his mind as they approached the door to Aaron’s room. His decision was made by the time they reached the door.

 

“Aaron,” he said and stopped the man from unlocking the door. When the other man turned towards him, he stepped forward and pressed their lips together. He ghosted his tongue over Aaron’s bottom lip. He stepped back and grinned before the kiss could deepen. “Call me,” he grinned and sauntered off, leaving the other man staring after him.


End file.
